ETHIOPIA. Blog 5.
The final day starts with a power cut, something that has happened quite a few times during this stay. I hadn’t really thought much about it until I raised it with the hotel owner. They’ve installed an on-site generator to counter this disruption which apparently is caused by desperate individuals stripping the copper from the public cables and selling it. Apart from being extraordinarily dangerous it’s a wonder there is any public electricity available at all.
I’m still not sure if I’ve overcome the jet lag or if it’s pure adrenalin that’s keeping me going. At breakfast I ask for a fruit salad and get bananas mixed with lettuce and a spicy dressing. Something got lost in translation, but the coffee made up for it!
I quickly packed what few belongings I had and we set off a little later for once. We were going to visit Kaffa the region that is considered the birthplace of Arabica coffee. On the way I saw a lady underneath a tarpaulin with a few chairs selling cups of coffee, the ultimate pop up. Sadly we drove past and stopped at somewhere much more up market. There was building going on all around, a sure sign that prosperity is on the way.
This was though an exceptional stop. The coffee we were to drink was being roasted in front of us. A small metal tray was sat on a charcoal burner and quietly moved around to get an even roast. When I think of all the technology used in our part of the world to get just the right flavour, this was beautifully humble yet delivered a really nice full bodied cup of coffee which I gratefully consumed with some porridge and honey.
We had to get a move on Teddy had to catch a lunchtime flight from Jimma to Addis which meant our driver needed to burn some rubber, that he did. Thankfully there are no police checks for speed limit breaches but that’s not the real problem, the bigger problem is the amount of damage to the road surface that needs to be tip toed across lest the suspension is destroyed.
This was when Teddy opened up. I had asked earlier why the main highway had these major issues with the surface. Bribery was his answer. The main road had been paid for by the Japanese but only half of that money went to the cost of building the road, the rest was syphoned off by contractors who saw a quick way to get rich at the expense of their community and at the expense of the nation. This was quite a startling outburst from someone who is quite reserved. That’s why he’s so positive about the current Government. Whilst he recognises things aren’t perfect, he believes that the current President has brought in the concept of nationhood. Rather than all the petty regional and ethnic battles he’s managed to convey the concept of Ethiopia as a nation state, one for all and all for one. It’s interesting that such a simple vision can be so galvanising.
We finally made it to the Airport and Teddy vanished with 20 minutes to spare before the flight took off. He didn’t reappear so it seems that flexibility to which he refers to build an economy also applied to ensuring he made the flight.
In another couple of hours Guus and I will be following him, extracting ourselves from this incredibly different world but one with incredible resources of which they are now starting to take ownership. Next stop Madrid, then London and finally home, Jersey.